Nadia Darkon
Nadia Darkon, former Fogey Commissioner and Minister of War Captain of the Guard, now The Minister of War. She resides within Thador Hall, a beautiful masterpiece within the Insanely Rich Area. 'From the Bunk' Physical Appearance: Nadia is a 40-year-old wildcat with the regular fur markings, fangs, and claws typical of her species. Her facial features are nondescript and her eyes are gold. In short, she’s the type of wildcat that does not stand out in a crowd, nor is she easy to pick out due to the lack of any distinctive features. Clothing: Nadia favors a classical style of dress with plain colors (no patterns). Generally she will wear earth-toned trousers and simple light-hued shirts. However, she is most comfortable in a uniform. The wildcat has worn many uniforms throughout her life, including those of the Stoatorian Guard, the Fogeys, and the Grey Guard. As the Fogey Commissioner, her uniform was black beret, grey jacket a grey shirt beneath, grey trousers, black boots, and a single gold baton pin on each shoulder to denote her rank. Her Grey Guard uniform consisted of a grey cloak with a skull patch on the shoulder over her normal everyday clothing. Her uniform as the Minister of War is the same as every other Guardsbeast: black boots, black breeches, and a white shirt with a navy calf-length jacket. Hers only differs in that the epaulettes and cuffs are grey, denoting her rank. Weapons: Years of being part of one law enforcement agency or another has taught the wildcat much about various types of weaponry. Currently she is equally well-versed with a sword as she is with a spear. Falchion: The falchion was the first type of weapon Nadia ever learned to use. As a young beast in the Navy, it was perfect for combat at sea. Use of the falchion has provided a solid base of knowledge in swordsbeastship. Spear: All recruits to the Stoatorian Guard are required to train in the use of the spear. Nadia was no exception and she found that while on land, she preferred the longer reach of the spear to that of a sword. She quickly excelled in proficiency with this weapon and was soon much better with the spear than with a sword. Brass Knuckles: Nadia took to carrying these around the Harbor with her as her preferred weapons were a bit cumbersome to carry around unless she was going somewhere with intent to use them. Halberd: When she was part of the Grey Guard, Nadia chose a halberd for herself and found the two-pawed weapon very efficient. It is similar enough to a spear but a bit more versatile. The wood haft is covered at intervals with strips of metal to assist in blocking weapon swipes at her. Peacemaker: Peacemaker is a Fyadorian blade made of Auldarian Steel. It is one of very few such blades left in existence. Originally obtained by Falun Ryalor, Captain of the Stoatorian Guard, he left it after his death to be the blade of the Captain of the Guard. Nadia found it in storage when she took up the post and has kept it ever since. Peacemaker is a blue-steel blade with the Stoatorian Guard emblem on one side and the Fyadorian gold circle flanked by branches on the other. She has recently had the Fyadorian symbol removed. Nadia has obtained a few lessons in the Way of the Steadfast Storm, but has decided it’s too precise for her. While some might view her unorthodox wielding of Peacemaker as disrespectful to the Fyadorian Empire, Nadia sees it as making good use of a good blade. Attitude/Personality: Nadia is not one to easily lose her temper. Most of the time she keeps herself calm and collected. She finds it difficult to feel strong emotions, the result of this being that when she finds a beast who elicits some feeling of sympathy or attachment in her, she will, in her own fashion, be very loyal to them. Nadia has no problem taking and following orders as long as they make sense. She has a strong disliking for political games and an equally strong distaste of beasts who play them. While she does understand them and their usefulness, her policy is to forge straight ahead, with intentions and actions out for all to see. 'Biography' 'A Brief History': *''Thermidor 9, 1727'' arrives in Bully Harbor and is soon made Second Mate of the Blood Leacher. *''Humidor 2, 1727'' joins the Stoatorian Guard and is made Minister’s Aide shortly thereafter. *''1728'' is made First Mate of the Blood Leacher *''Bugs 1728'' is the Revolution of 1728. *''Humidor 1728'' the Turncoats return to the Imperium as privateers. *''Dismembre 1728'' MinoWar dies and Nadia’s involvement of the Guard decreases. *''Smarch 8, 1729'' is made Fogey Commissioner by Mayor Atskiya, but returns to a solitary existence in Thador Hall. *''Frimary 28, 1733'' returns to interacting with other beasts and joins the Grey Guard. *''Bugs 1733'' leaves the Grey Guard to take the position of Captain of the Guard for the Stoatorian Guard. *''Dismembre 1733'' the Coalition invades and The Winter War begins and she succeeds Nuori "Sken" Freemont as Minister of War. *''Soggus 1734'' the Coalition is driven out and the refugees return to Bully Harbor. Nadia begins her retaliations on the Coalition. Of Nadia’s early life there is not much to say. She grew up with her family content and happy in the southern part of the Imperium. She learned to fight and received the type of schooling that their area had to offer. When she reached the age of 24, the wildcat decided it was time to go do a little exploring of the world. She hired herself out as a guard for merchant caravans, eventually making her way to the sea. She spent several more seasons working as a guard on merchant ships, finally arriving in Bully Harbor at the age of 33. Tired of taking whatever jobs came along, Nadia decided it was time to give steady work a try and so she signed up with the Imperial Navy and was placed aboard The Mar’kan’s Glory. Without even taking time to explore Bully Harbor, Nadia settled into her bunk on the ship, only to awake in the dark to some rather annoying sounds. Of all the luck! Of course it would be on her first night in the Imperium that the Glory was being stolen! Not knowing if this was a legitimate sailing of the ship or not, Nadia decided the best thing to do was to remain loyal to the captain. It was not until later that night that she finally figured out that the ship was, in fact, being stolen. The wildcat finally decided that she no problem with that as she rather fancied trying the life of a pirate (such a young, inexperienced kitty cat). The crew aboard the Glory were named “Turncoats” by the Imperium. They took the name to heart and renamed the ship as the Blood Leacher. Nadia settled in quite well, finding that the small carpentry skills she had allowed her to remodel one of the decks of the Leacher into a rowing deck. Many weeks aboard built up a fierce loyalty inside the wildcat to the captain, Soarana. As Second Mate, Nadia carried out her duties and served occasionally as the pirates’ spy onboard merchant vessels. From her previous years of experience as a hired guard, the wildcat was able to get herself hired aboard specific vessels and unobtrusively assess the value of the ship’s cargo and how easy it would be for the Leacher to take it. Many of these ships sailed to or from Bully Harbor, but the wildcat had no fear of being recognized, knowing that her nondescript appearance was never easily remembered. Clothing styles also helped in her disguises. One would never match the wildcat on the wanted posters dressed in a flamboyant purple cloak to the mild-mannered plainly-dressed Nadia. Of course, there was also another side of life for Nadia that no beast among the Turncoats knew about. On the first merchant ship that she sailed upon as a spy, she took the opportunity to finally wander through the streets of Bully Harbor. It was quite an experience for the wildcat and she realized that she liked the city better than she liked being stuck on the Leacher. However, her loyalty to Soarana would not allow her to simply disappear from the ship. Instead, she took it upon herself to build a life in Bully Harbor that would be completely separate from that as a Turncoat. Neither would have any knowledge of the other. Seeing a sign that said the Stoatorian Guard was accepting new recruits, Nadia eagerly jumped at the chance. She told the Minister of War that yes, she was on the Glory the night it was stolen, but she was one of the many crewbeasts who had been sent to go put out the fires on the other ships. She said that currently she was acting as a hired guard for merchant ships, seeing as it would serve as an acceptable explanation of her periods of absence from the Harbor. Several months passed and, much to her surprise, Nadia ran across another beast that she also found to be deserving of her loyalty: Minister of War Nuori Freemont. It wasn’t long before Nadia earned the Minister’s trust and was promoted to Minister’s Aide. Nadia went along with her parallel lives for almost a year, trying to ignore the inevitable conflict. She knew that one day she would have to turn on either Sken or Soarana and questions about her loyalties kept her awake at night. Of course, it’s hard to keep things as separate as she kept trying. Nadia met a wildcat in Bully Harbor that she really liked: Machiavillian Seerclaw and his daughter Alle. The two had their differences, but what made it perfect for her was the fact that Mach knew she was part of the Leacher's crew, and had no problem with it, except for being concerned for her safety. Then the Revolution came. Nadia and the Turncoats had been training students how to fight and supplying them with weapons. The Revolution officially broke out when the Turncoats were in harbor to steal some museum artifacts. In the whole mishmash of things, Nadia found herself on the Guard's side, giving orders to beasts to exterminate the Revolutionaries, which included beasts among her own crew. The wildcat tried to run from the conflict as much as possible and kept her inner turmoil to herself as the Revolution was crushed and she returned to her life as Minister’s Aide and as Second Mate aboard the Turncoat ship. In the months after the Revolution, Captain Soarana committed suicide, which put Fafnir in charge of the Leacher. The death of Soarana promoted Nadia to First Mate. Unable to keep up with what it took to live two separate lives and no longer having a captain she felt any loyalty to, Nadia, along with Sasha Atskiya, the second mate of the Leacher, made the decision to betray the Turncoats to the Imperium. She brought her information to the Minister of War, one of the hardest things she'd had to do in her life. Nadia knew Sken would see it as a betrayal of the deepest kind, and the wildcatess didn't blame her. All this was her fault after all. Much was discussed, but eventually a plan was worked out to return the Leacher to the Navy. It was successful (mostly) and the pirate crew became privateers aboard a new ship named the Greengill that they had previously captured from a group of woodlanders. Nadia hoped her life would settle down after all the resentment of her betrayal, of both the Turncoats and the Stoatorian Guard, calmed down. But that was not to be. The last beast she felt any loyalty to, Minister of War Nuori Freemont, was killed by Vladimir Ullyanov when he removed Mar’kan from the throne in a very effective coup. Nadia could do nothing but stand by as higher Ministry officials removed the Minister of War’s body from the Stoatorian Guard’s morgue. Her ship that she was First Mate on was decommissioned and became the Mayoral ship, leaving the wildcat without a home at sea to escape to. Nadia started to withdraw into her empty home, only appearing at the Stoatorian Guard headquarters for a few new recruit trainings or if old paperwork needed to be dug up. To make matters worse, Mach and his daughter had disappeared. Nadia stayed to herself as the Imperium sorted itself out post-coup. Her friend (and former fellow officer) Sasha Atskiya, now Mayor of Bully Harbor, was able to pull her out of her solitary existence for a short time with the position of Fogey Commissioner, but Nadia soon returned to the empty spaces of Thador Hall (a Gothic Architectural Masterpiece she purchased with her privateer loot). She started to enjoy the quiet, non-stressful life that came with keeping her paws out of Imperial business. Four years later Nadia was pulled out of her quiet existence at the urgings of her cook, who was saying that things were worse than ever in the Imperium. She joined the Grey Guard in an effort to try and restore law and order to the streets, but held ambiguous feelings about the semi-vigilante group. She wouldn’t tell any beast, but she wished with all her heart to return to the Stoatorian Guard. Sadly, it hardly existed anymore, and so she contented herself with participating in the Grey Guard. About the same time as she joined the Grey Guard, some paperpusher in the Navy pulled up her contract and decided that she still had two years of service to give to the Navy. She reported to the Skeered and was placed as Second Mate due to her prior naval officer experience. Much to her surprise, the Skeered’s first mission she went on was to find one Nuori Sken Freemont. Nadia was highly skeptical that the info they were going on was true, but much to her surprise they did find the previously-believed-to-be-deceased Sken, only to have the reunion cut short by an interruption from MAUL. Upon returning to the Harbor, Nadia was even more surprised to learn that the Emperor had released and re-instated Sken as the Minister of War. Nadia immediately returned to the Stoatorian Guard, leaving the Grey Guard behind, and was promoted to Captain of the Guard. The next few months consisted of the struggle against Maelstrom, various trips aboard the Skeered, and the development of multiple new friendships. One in particular was with Skip Newby, the ship’s cook. She and the wildcat became romantically involved and she was glad to find that he was not at all intimated by her positions as Captain of the Guard and Second Mate. He was unendingly comforting and courteous, never pushing their relationship past where she was comfortable with it. She found she had even more time to enjoy the middle-aged romance when Maelstrom was defeated. In short, life was good and the femme had never been so happy to be away from her self-imposed solitude. Then the Coalition invaded when she was on a personal vacation. It was on the frozen road to the refugee camps that Nadia learned her boss, Sken, and her lover, Skip, were both dead. The Skeered had been destroyed on some rocks by the Ivory Corsair fleet and the Minister of War had died in an explosion that took a large chunk of Bully Harbor with it. Nadia arrived at the camps grim-faced and determined to take back the city. She accepted the automatic promotion to Minister of War without a blink and set to work. Guardsbeasts were recruited and trained. Defenses were constructed. Information was gathered. Allies were gathered. Four months later the Coalition was driven out and beasts returned to their homes in Bully Harbor. Nadia set about repairing the fleet and vowing to strike back against the members of the Coalition one by one. 'Present Day:' Nadia is hard at work in her position as Minister of (Foreign) War and (Domestic) Peace. She is determined that there will be peace in the Harbor and that the Imperium will one day complete its vengeance on all members of the Coalition. She doesn’t care a fishstick for who is or isn’t Emperor, instead claiming her loyalty is to the citizens of the Imperium. She is working towards transparency in all governmental dealings. Some major changes and achievements she has made as Minister of War include: driving out the Coalition, destroying the Ivory Corsairs, establishing stable and mutually beneficial trade relations with Varangia, making it mandatory that all Guardsbeasts swear loyalty to the citizens (instead of the Emperor), and most recently, requiring that all foreigners in any Naval or Ministerial position forswear all titles, privileges, and inheritance associated with their native lands and become full-fledged Imperial citizens (and Imperial citizens only) should they wish to retain their jobs. Having just turned 40, Nadia has all but given up on finding a mate. She figures that having found two perfect toms, and both having died, she will find no others. Recently she is pouring her long-denied desire for family into the three orphaned kits of Vaelora Ryalor who are living with her until the details of their guardianship can be worked out. 'Alternates' Adriel Blacktip, Sargon Bloodworth, Thomas Remy, Lark Drogal, and Kaia Westerberry. Category:Beasts Category:Ministers of War Category:Turncoats Category:Nadia Darkon Category:Wildcats Category:Females